Since 2012, the market for civilian drones in France has been booming. As proof, France now has twenty drone manufacturers and 400 organizations authorized to operate them. Consequently, today, there are around a dozen companies such as Airborne Concept, that specialize in drone / U.A.V. pilot training; and all are doing well.

Since April, at Francazal Aerodrome, near Toulouse, this former French Air Force Transall pilot, together with his partners, has been giving courses, in learning how to master the control of WELL-identified flying objects.

In order to operate a drone, a pre-requisite is to have a theoretical microlight pilot certificate. Allow about a month to get it. After that, you need to take a one-week course to learn how to pilot a drone gradually, with simulation exercises first, and then with real drones. Always starting with small unbreakable models to arrive at “Fine control” of much larger machines. The courses also include lectures essential in the knowledge of current regulations.

Arnaud Le Maout, President - Airborne Concept :

"It involves the type of equipment that you have the right to use, the skills that you must have, as well as the conditions under which the drone is used, i.e. the different scenarios that have been established by the D.G.A.C. ( Directorate General of Civil Aviation ), which imposes the use of specific types of U.A.V.'s in areas determined by, for example, whether they are inhabited, or uninhabited, residential or rural."

And if for the moment an official, so to speak, unmanned aerial vehicle pilot's certificate does not yet exist, this type of training, costing 2,900 euros, still allows a U.A.V. to be operated legally. A boon for industry, farmers and others, such as real estate agents, who are looking to provide new services like thermal diagnostics, maps or other type of aerial views. Thanks to their embedded systems, drones are indeed, attractive multi-tasking machines.

Julian Kindness - Telepilotage trainee :

"I want to find outas much as I can about this developing technology, this developing industry. It has applications in many, many different types of industries, all of which I find interesting."

The future is in the air. In just three months, Airborne Concept has trained fifteen drone pilot trainees. And after Toulouse, the company now intends to establish itself in Bordeaux, and Paris, by the end of the year. The civilian U.A.V. market is still in its infancy.